Voiceless Essay (1986)

This work makes use of 18 mesostics by Cage based upon Erik Satie's title Messe des Pauvres in the creation of tapes with superimpositions of Cage's readings. The tapes were prepared at the Center for Computer Music at Brooklyn College under the supervision of Charles Dodge, with assistance from Frances White, Kenneth Worthy, and Victor Friedberg. The length indicated is for the stratified version. The unstratified version, available under the same publication number, is 17 minutes in length. This work is also available through the John Cage Trust as Cage’s only sound and light installation. (Installations have been mounted in Kassel, Columbus [Ohio], Berlin, Korea, Spain, and, in its first permanent form, at the Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany.) This work was also used as music for both the choreographed piece and video dance by Merce Cunningham entitled Points in Space, the latter co-directed by Elliot Caplan, with stage decors and costume design by William Anastasi.